24.05.2005 

Part III: Polish intelligence 1989-2005

The Grave Heritage of the Past

The former representative of the KGB in Poland, General Pavlov, admitted that after the change of authority in Poland in 1989, the Polish special services not only cut short any partnership with Russian colleagues, but also "defected" to the ranks of the opponent, immediately starting activity against Russia.
In practice, certainly, the situation at the end of the eighties and beginning of the nineties was much more complicated than this. On the one hand, as has already been mentioned in the previous part of this article, -relations between the Polish SB and KGB have worsened steadily since the end of the seventies. The active cooperation of several SB officers with the opposition during that period also poured oil on the flames.
The case of Adam Hodycz was one of the most widely known in Poland, for he had been supplying sensitive information to the opposition since 1978.
It is additionally necessary also to note the deep traditional religiousness of Poles, which holds true even for SB officers. Thus, while SB was a fulcrum of the Communist regime in Poland, it nevertheless was not as fanatical as its Soviet analogue. On the other hand, it is necessary to mention the confidential relations, both professional and personal, between many SB and KGB officers. These attitudes and relations could not be discarded instantly upon the fall of the Communist government in 1989. These relations became grounds for Poland's new allies' fears, which resulted in the first half of the nineties in open accusations of the Polish scouts' alleged cooperation with the Russian intelligence against the West.

Internal Structural Changes

Reform of the intelligence community of Poland was dragged out for 13 long years. After the fall of the Communist government in April 1990, the names of the leading institutions of the country were changed again. SB turned into the "Office for State Protection" (Urzad Ochrony Panstwa - UOP), and military intelligence (Wojskowe Sluzby Wewnetrzne - WSW) became "Military Information Services" (Wojskowe Sluzby Informacyjne - WSI). However, reformation of the intelligence community did not go further than the change of names. As it was during the Communist period, UOP has remained under the control of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and WSI  under the control of the Ministry of Defense. The internal structure of both organizations practically has not changed.
UOP was still functioning as the agency for civil intelligence, counterespionage and protection of governmental communications. There were few innovations. The termination of UOP`s activity against oppositional political forces was officially declared. In addition, the heads of UOP and WSI henceforth were appointed from among the civilians close to the ruling coalition in the country.
The status of UOP changed in 1996. From an integral part of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, this organization turned into an independent agency, answering directly to the Prime Minister of the Polish republic. Thus, the four-decade-long tradition of the Ministry of Internal Affairs` prerogative in handling civil intelligence and counterespionage bodies came to an end. However, the internal structure of UOP has not been subjected to fundamental changes.
Reforming the Polish intelligence community became a priority before the introduction of Poland into NATO in December, 1999. However, the ruling right-centrist coalition, "Solidarity Electoral Action" (Akcja Wyborsza Solidarnosc - AWS), has not undertaken any serious steps. The opposition, however, decided to devote itself to reform very seriously. The largest opposition party, "Alliance of the Democratic Left" (Sojusz Lewicy Demokratycznej - SLD), has included in its elections platform the issue of reforming the special services. The party initialized the creation of the "National Security Institute", which engaged in developing the concept of the future reform. The basis of the concept included examples of the intelligence communities of the USA, Great Britain and Germany. The new concept was implemented after the parliamentary elections of October, 2001, which brought victory to the SLD. Eight months later, on June 11, 2002, President Aleksander Kwasniewski signed a decree reforming the civil special services.
UOP was disbanded within the framework of reform, and on its basis two new independent agencies, the "Foreign Intelligence Agency" (Agencja Wywiadu - AW) and the "Internal Security Agency" (Agencja Bezpieczenstwa Wewnetrznego - ABW), were created. Both organizations answer directly to the Prime Minister and are supervised by the Sejm. It is necessary to note that despite the resemblance to the American FBI, the Polish ABW was initially deprived of police functions. Within the reform framework, the post of "Minister for Coordinator of Secret Services" also was abolished. Another innovation was the creation of new body, the "Intelligence Community" (Wspolnota Wywiadowcza - WW). WW is called upon to coordinate activity of all special services of the Polish republic, and also to make informational inquiries for the leaders of the state. The head of WW is the chief of the "Foreign Intelligence Agency" (AW).
It is necessary to note once again that the reform of 2002 did not touch military intelligence (WSI) and thus it currently is the unique intelligence agency of Poland, whose internal organization has remained practically unchanged since the Communist period.

Read about the personnel selection policy in the modern Polish intelligence community in the next part of the article.

Part One

Part Two

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